Got a double feature this week with Dave Hause (The Loved Ones) and Tom May (The Menzingers). Both very good friends of the show and we loved having them back to hear about how Dave's brother Tim was born while he was at Lollapalooza seeing Rage Against the Machine. We figure out that Tom is a Rancid super-fan and he drops the big one - Menzingers' 20th anniversary coming up!

We go on a real journey this episode with At The Drive-In and Sparta founder, Jim Ward. From his frontier family roots, arriving in Texas via covered wagon up thru his discovery of the outside world during early tours, to the pitfalls of grand success. Along the way we find out about his favorite pedals and that he's an "aggressive sleeper".

Sparta online

This week we've got professional music and surf journalist, Jon Coen telling us how 7 Seconds succeeded where the hippies failed. He's also straight edge and a surfer himself and... he lives on a real island off the coast of New Jersey! Good stuff.

Jon Coen online

So much fun this week with Vinnie Caruana of The Movielife Life and I AM THE AVALANCHE. From the heaviness of writing about his close friend's passing to playing in a Seaweed cover band, it gets real and it gets surreal - like 100% the BEST ghost story we've had to date!

The ever dynamic frontman for The Academy Is..., William Beckett joins us from the land of John Hughes to talk about wrestling, still not meeting Chris Carrabba, and of course - our pending Dave Mathews dance party! He also counts Warped Tours and reveals his most Epic Fail on stage and nerd alert... we do a LOT of Game of Thrones but hey, we're both G.O.T.!

The Academy Is... website

The HUGELY influential Dan Yemin of Lifetime, Kid Dynamite, Paint It Black and now, Bitter Branches, got real with us this week! Don't worry, you'll hear plenty of what helped put him where he is today but we also go off-track with plenty of psychology talk (his other specialty), New Jersey hip-hop... even a little Yiddish lesson.

Listen to Bitter Branches' new music

The Flatliners drummer, Paul Ramirez joins us from Toronto to discuss Canadian bagels, lobster, the danger of horses and Soundgarden. There's also praise for Jersey Pizza, Taco Bell and ringey snare sounds. We also discuss why he's always the designated driver at border-crossings.

American professional wrestler, manager of The Hurt Syndicate, the one and only Montel Vontavious Porter (aka Hassan Hamid Assad) joins us to talk about bad choices, good recoveries, meeting Zac Blair of Rise Against when Zac was still in his high school band, Japanese steak, Sasquatch, living in Hakeem Olajuwon's house... there is so much good stuff here, you've just got to listen.

MVP's Linktree

MVP's amazing TedX